The education system of New Zealand is not different from what is being practiced in most countries of the world. The education system in New Zealand can be classified into three levels; primary, secondary, and the tertiary institutions. All three levels are controlled and supervised by the government, although there are so many private-owned schools at different levels of the education system. The primary school education of a child starts as soon as he/she reaches the age of six (6) and ends at 12.
The primary school education also includes schools at the intermediate level. Ordinarily, at the primary school level, a class should not contain more than 29 students. The secondary school level starts as soon as a student leaves primary school. At this level, the population of students per class comes down a bit, especially for privately owned schools. The tertiary level of education is often referred to as higher education. Students are admitted based on areas of their interest. New Zealand universities are highly rated all over the world.